Shipments of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II will begin leaving Canon USA's distribution centres en route to U.S. dealers starting November 25, 2008, says Chuck Westfall, Technical Advisor at Canon USA. This should translate into some dealers being able to put cameras into the hands of customers before the end of the week, though shipping times, the speed at which dealers can absorb the arriving stock and the U.S. holiday weekend will all impact when Canon's newest 21.03 million image pixel digital SLR comes available in the U.S. in the days ahead.

As of this writing, we can't confirm if key 5D Mark II accessories are also beginning to ship to retailers tomorrow in the U.S. Earlier this month, however, Westfall had indicated items such as extra Battery Pack LP-E6s, Battery Grip BG-E6, Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E4/E4A and EG-series focusing screens were expected to ship at about the same time as the camera body.

Retailers in Canada were recently informed that they could expect their initial units of the camera beginning the first week of December 2008. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II has an expected street price of CDN$3099.99 in Canada.